Michael van Gerwen thrashed Wes Newton 5-1 to book his place in his first televised PDC ranking final at the PartyPoker.com World Grand Prix.

The 23-year-old's brilliant run in Dublin continued as he saw off the No 6 seed, heavily outscoring his opponent to finish with an average of 95.04.

Van Gerwen threw nearest the bull to start the match but lost the opening leg after Fleetwood's Newton threw 180 and finished 150 on double 15.

However, the Dutchman broke back immediately and held throw before the pair swapped further legs and the semi-final went with throw to allow van Gerwen to go 1-0 up.

He also broke at the start of the second set but Newton hit back to take it 3-2 after finishing 86 in the deciding leg despite taking five darts to start.

Set three was the first to go with throw and van Gerwen edged ahead by landing double six before he made it 3-1 following Newton's agonising miss on double 16 from 143 out.

Van Gerwen sensed victory and swept through the fifth set and landed tops and double 12 to go one leg from the final before Newton momentarily staved off defeat by finishing 52 despite a Dutch maximum.

Van Gerwen needed just one more leg to wrap up the victory, though, with tops wrapping up a 72 finish and booking him a place in the final.

Mervyn King awaits next after he recorded a 5-2 victory over local favourite Brendan Dolan in the second of Saturday's semi-finals.

In a thrilling opening leg in front of a raucous Dublin crowd, King missed three starting doubles to allow Dolan to get away immediately and, after the Irishman missed the bull to take out 170, King missed double 16 and eight for Dolan to finish 25 and break first throw.

Dolan took out 62 but double 16, tops and double eight finishes gave King the first set and, despite a tops finish from his opponent, the Englishman then won another three legs on the bounce for a 2-0 advantage.

However, Dolan answered a 174 from King with a maximum and the County Fermanagh thrower then struck double 16 to break in the third set's opening leg.

Double eight and a brilliant 170 almost raised the Citywest Hotel's roof as Dolan took it without reply but, after a fourth successive leg, his opponent won four of his own to go 3-1 to the good before Dolan stopped the rot.

King crucially won the fifth's decider, taking out 49 to win the set, and then missed four match darts at tops and double ten in the sixth to gift it to last year's runner-up.

Double five saw King take the seventh set's opener and, after Dolan missed double 16, the Norfolk ace finished 108 with a 'Shanghai' on the 18 bed to move a leg away from the final and following Dolan's defiant fifth 180 of the match, King regally nailed a 132 bullseye finish.